Parentals
by pencil gal
Summary: On a cold afternoon, in a tiny apartment, Rory and Jess talk about the parental figures in their lives. Set mid-S3. Lit


**Disclaimer: **_Gilmore Girls_ belongs to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. _Persuasion_ belongs to Jane Austen. I make no profit, nor am I associated in any way with either.

**Parentals**

Rory smiled as she walked into Luke's Diner. It had been so cold outside as she walked from the bus stop and she was glad to get inside where there was warm food and warm coffee and a nice warm boyfriend. Jess was standing at the counter reading as always while Luke refilled coffee for the few customers scattered across the tables. She hopped up onto a stool and said, "Hi."

Looking up from his book, Jess smiled (one of his very few rare ones) and returned the greeting with a kiss. As they broke apart Jess slipped his book into his pocket and grabbed Rory's hand to pull her upstairs. "Luke!" Luke turned around at the sound of his nephew's voice and saw him pointing to the roof before he and Rory disappeared behind the curtain.

"Do you want a drink or something?" Jess asked as they stepped into the tiny apartment.

"I'll grab it," Rory replied. Jess slumped down into the lounge as Rory moved to the small kitchenette. "You know," she commented as she grabbed a soda out of the fridge, "sometimes I think my mom's scared of you." It was something she had been thinking about lately and she felt like sharing.

Jess raised an eyebrow at her as she sat down next to him. "Scared of me?" He sounded almost amused by the thought.

"Well, not really scared I guess. More like you remind her of herself when she was sixteen and that's what worries her I think. Not that she would ever admit that the two of you are at all alike."

"Really?" Jess played with the ends of Rory's hair as he looked at her sceptically. "I wouldn't have thought I had so much in common with your mom."

"Not as she is now," Rory explained. "But Lorelai at sixteen? Angry, rebellious, a general dislike for authority. Sound familiar?"

"Maybe," he conceded. "So what happened? How did rebellious Lorelai turn into small town hero?"

Rory poked her tongue out at him. "She had me."

Jess smirked as he leant closer, still with his hands curled into Rory's long hair. "And it's a very good thing that she did have you."

"Yeah?" whispered Rory.

"Yeah. Because otherwise I wouldn't get to do this." And with that comment Jess kissed Rory.

He thinks sometimes that he could like Lorelai if she would let him. After all, she's not really so very different to Rory. But when she's on his case all the time Jess can't bring himself to do it. Though maybe in time when they both understand each other better it might happen. And maybe that's what this conversation had just been about. Understanding.

Jess had just moved his hands to Rory's waist to pull her closer when the door opened and they were interrupted. The two teenagers broke apart to find Luke standing there uncomfortably. A quick glance at his watch showed Jess that it had been ten minutes exactly. "Well done Uncle Luke, right on time," he deadpanned.

He exchanged a glance with Rory as Luke rambled about his latest excuse (forgotten spatula). Jess gave a tight smile (Rory a somewhat embarrassed one) as Luke grabbed his spatula and left again. Moving his hands back to Rory's waist, he asked, "So where were we?" Rory grinned as she looped her arms back around Jess's neck.

--

Rory picked up the paperback from where Jess had dropped it on the coffee table earlier. "Hey, _Persuasion._ I love this book," she said, delighted. Jess just shrugged as she waved it at him. "I wouldn't have picked you as the type," Rory continued, "to read Austen more than once. Not with all that depressing Hemmingway you love so much."

Jess threw her a look as he replied, "Give Ernest a break. Besides if it was _Pride and Prejudice_ I wouldn't bother. I mean, I know Mr Darcy is meant to be God's gift to women and all that but the book is really over-rated. Everyone reads it and falls in love with Colin Firth but then overlook her other novels. But _Persuasion_ is pretty good. I've read it a couple of times now."

"It was my favourite book when I was younger." Rory plucked at the old leather on the back of the sofa, hesitating about whether to tell him what she was remembering. She knew Jess wasn't a fan of talking about very personal things. But she was in this relationship too and she should be able to discuss whatever she wanted to. Taking a breath she continued, "When I was younger I used to imagine that my parents were just like Anne and Captain Wentworth. That one day my Dad would come back, ready to settle down just like Captain Wentworth when he arrived at Kellynch. And then Mom and Dad would fall in love all over again. Of course by the time it actually happened it was already too late. Besides I'd grown out of childish dreams by then."

Jess had remained silent, happy to simply let Rory talk. It was so rare that she ever mentioned her father at all that he didn't want to interrupt. "Too late?" he questioned gently.

Rory glanced down at her hands twisting together in her lap before answering. "You remember Sookie and Jackson's wedding? Chris had been coming down quite a bit to see me and Mom in the time leading up to the wedding. He had decided to leave his girlfriend and really give it a go with Mom. Chris told me so and it made me so happy. But then he got a call. Sherry was pregnant." She faltered and Jess reached across to still her hands. "It hurt you know? For five minutes I thought I was finally getting it, that the dream was finally going to happen after so long."

Jess wasn't sure what he was meant to say to that. He had never been in this sort of situation before. He didn't know how to comfort people. It wasn't something that you learnt on the streets of New York. So instead of responding directly he said, "You don't talk about your father much."

"Neither do you," was the quick retort. Jess shrugged uncomfortably, afraid that the conversation would turn to him and subjects that he didn't want to mention. Not yet anyway. He wasn't ready to share those details of his past just yet.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Rory broke it by looking up into Jess's eyes. "Read to me?" she asked in an almost plaintive tone.

Jess smiled his crooked smile and rearranged himself on the lounge. Pulling Rory into his side, he opened up the book and began, _"Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire…"_

--

"_She had seen the same Frederick Wentworth."_

Jess glanced down at the softly breathing Rory as she leant against his shoulder. She had fallen asleep sometime during the fifth chapter. He had stopped reading but the minute he did Rory had murmured a protest. With a small chuckle Jess had continued and Rory had settled back into slumber.

He quickly held a finger up to his lips as Lorelai came barrelling through the door. Jess was amused to see that she had a hand over her eyes and was already in the middle of an apology. Obviously his gesture for silence was not going to be seen. "Uh Lorelai?" he interrupted. "You can look."

She was slow to remove her hand but she let out a noise of surprise when she realised that her daughter was very much asleep. Jess shrugged the shoulder that wasn't currently being used as a pillow and explained, "We were reading and she just drifted off."

"Oh. Right," Lorelai's gaze shifted around the tiny apartment as her hands fidgeted with her bag. "Well, I just came up to find Rory because she was meant to meet me for dinner and Luke said you guys were up here so I just-"

"I'll send her down when she wakes up," Jess broke into the monologue again, before the rambling could go any further.

"Great." Lorelai sent him a forced smile which Jess returned. "See you later Jess." She turned and hurried back out of the apartment.

Jess looked down at his girlfriend curled into his side. Brushing a strand of hair away from her face, he began to murmur to her. "I know I don't get along with Lorelai a lot of the time but the one thing I will say is that at least she's a good mother."

He sighed before continuing. "My mom's a wack job. She really is. She can never hold down a job and as for boyfriends…" Jess trailed off as he shook his head. "Some of them were real bastards. There was this one guy when I was thirteen who used to beat both my mom and me. I think that was the one time Liz really acted like a proper mother. When she saw John bashing my head in she flew into a rage and kicked him out before calling the cops." Jess stopped speaking as Rory shifted in her sleep.

When she settled again he tapped his fingers against the cover of the novel before finally whispering, "It might have been nice to have had what you did growing up. Nice to have a mom like yours." He forced himself not to sigh. This was why he didn't like looking back. It just made him feel useless and alone and angry.

"Jess?" Glancing down, he saw that Rory had sleepily opened her eyes. Jess held his breath, wondering just how much she had heard. He didn't really want her to know about his past because he had never wanted her to learn just how screwed up he really was. Jess exhaled in relief when all that Rory said was, "You stopped reading."

"Sorry," he muttered. "Close your eyes and I'll keep going." Jess bent down and kissed the top of Rory's head as she snuggled into his chest again. He picked up _Persuasion _and continued to read, knowing that soon enough he would have to wake Rory up and send her down to the diner before Lorelai came looking for her again.


End file.
